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Linux Business Portables

Elonex ONE Subnotebook Shows Right Path For Linux 177

Posted by Soulskill from the no-fuss-just-tux dept.
davidmwilliams writes "Whether it was to your taste or not, there's no denying the ASUS Eee Linux subnotebook was a massive sales success. Demand far exceeded initial production so it's not surprising competitor models are on their way. Just like the Eee, the Elonex achieves cost savings by bundling freely redistributable open source software including, of course, the Linux operating system (specifically, Linos 2.6.21). Those who use the Elonex ONE may well understand it uses something called Linux under the hood, but they don't really have to grasp what this means. They don't have to care that the WiFi hardware was carefully chosen to be one of the exclusive few which has supported Linux drivers. They don't need to tamper with the way their family computer is already set up."
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Elonex ONE Subnotebook Shows Right Path For Linux More

Elonex ONE Subnotebook Shows Right Path For Linux

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  • "And hence, shall usher in the Year of the Linux Desktop..."

    At least, thats what reading between the lines gave me. Your milage may differ.
    Its a nice idea, but how many of things have said they've managed to bridge the gap?
    I'm not holding my breath.

    • Re:Year of the Linux Desktop! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Darkness404 ( 1287218 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @09:16AM (#23616863)
      There is no "gap" between Windows and Linux for general use. Windows has more specialty applications that Linux lacks but that is only because it has been around in desktop use (for most people who use Linux we aren't talking about Linus here....) for longer then Linux has. All Linux is lacking is good support pre-installed by most manufacturers, with the EEE, the XO and now this, it seems like Linux can start being installed on more things. The gap is closing with every new computer maker who installs Linux on new computers.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by H3g3m0n ( 642800 )
      Personally I think it is fairly safe to consider this the year of the Linux desktop.

      Several million EeePC's where shipped with Linux on them after all, and many other subnote books are planning too.

      Then add into account the exponential Ubuntu user growth and the absolute suckage of Vista.

      I'm not sure exactly what conditions are needed to be officially branded the year of the Linux desktop. Or are we expecting over %50 usage or some astronomical usage jump from %4 to %12 within months. Some kind of

      • Re:Year of the Linux Desktop! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Glonoinha ( 587375 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @04:50PM (#23620463) Journal
        Ask yourself how many DELL laptops are being shipped with Linux on them, and how many end users will leave the Linux on their new Dell laptop and actually use it regularly.

        The answer will surprise you : almost ALL of them.

        The MediaDirect functionality that's being shipped on every Dell laptop that comes with the media buttons on the front (so the user can play music, DVDs, etc) without booting the system - is running Linux.
        So yea - Linux is out there, and people are using it. Maybe not as originally intended, or to the limits of its ability - but it's definitely being used.
    • Don't you mean "Year of the Linux Laptop" ;-)
  • I'd like to know what the '300MHz LNX Code 8 Mobile Processor' is. My guess would be a Cortex A8 derivative, but it doesn't specify. I'd be interested to know if the machine can run other operating systems (e.g. OpenBSD). At under £100, it's very tempting to pick one up to play with. 1GB of flash is not very much though, and the only expandability is via USB (no flash cards, unfortunately).
    • Re: the CPU question.... I agree, I was going to say the same thing, but my connection is playing up.

      I first heard of the Elonex ONE via Slashdot on a roundup of the Eee PC's rivals. It looked interesting, and I might have considered pre-ordering one, but there was bugger all concrete detail about the CPU.

      Looking at the website now, it doesn't seem to give much (if any) more information than what was available back then. It states that they're using an "LNX [Elonex, geddit?!] Code 8 300MHz Mobile Processo

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by dominux ( 731134 )
        it is a VIA chip. x86 compatible. No, I don't get the code name thing either.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Sique ( 173459 )
          Probably modified to Elonex' specs.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by arivanov ( 12034 )
          Thanks for the info. This sounds plausible as Elonex has a history of shipping Via based kit and hiding the bleeding obvious behind marketing bollocks.

          This puts the One more or less in the right frame. Assuming this is C3, model 8 of C3 is a fairly low on the pecking order. Model 7 is classic Eden with no AES. Dunno what is model 8 is as I have only 8 and 10+ around the house, but it is likely to be more of an Eden than C7. 300MHz is lower than what is usually used for fanless Via Thin clients (400 for the

  • What market? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by grizdog ( 1224414 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @08:20AM (#23616549) Homepage
    They say they are targeting the education market, "every child should have a laptop", which is great, but isn't there a big market just as a thin interface/word processor? I can think of lots of people who don't play games, and wouldn't need any more than this to satisfy their computing needs, maybe with a bigger monitor at home, maybe not.

    It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the years. It used to be that people who didn't like computers, but had to use them for a few things, avoided Linux like the plague. It may be that these very people are about to embrace it, if it gives them all they want.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by chthon ( 580889 )

      My current combination : evilwm + emacs + org-mode + mit/gnu scheme + clisp + LaTeX + bazaar.

      I would really like to have such a small, flat portable. The previous combination now runs fine on a 10 year old 233 PII system with 96 Mb RAM and a 2,5 Gb HDD (software footprint : about 700 Mb).

      • You can replace the machine for the cost of a fancy dinner. I'd say it's time to move on. That hardware is going to fail soon anyway.

  • Linos... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Vectronic ( 1221470 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @08:23AM (#23616567)
    Just what exactly is Linos? I tried Google, and it gave me nothing useful. (Photphonics, and Industrial software)

    They might get even more publicity and help if they said "It uses Linos, which is based on [insert major distribution]"

    Unless its not based on anything, which would be "cool" but not very well thought through, unless they have a huge Help & Support staff/department.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by jeiler ( 1106393 )
      Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] is your friend. :)
      • Yes it is, and thanx... guess we'll have to wait till some people get there hands on one to find out what its capable of.

        Although according to that sentence at Wikipedia, its proprietary, so that kinda sucks depending on what the TOS/License allows.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jeiler ( 1106393 )

          Actually I'm also hoping that if a slashdotter gets ahold of Linos and finds out more, they'll also update the WP article. (hint, hint)

      • Linos (operating system)
        From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

        Linos is a embedded distribution of Linux used by Aware Electronics in their A-BOOK products[1]. It is also expected to be used in the Elonex ONE[2].
        Ooh! Real helpful!

    • Re:Linos... (Score:4, Informative)

      by hansraj ( 458504 ) * on Sunday June 01, 2008 @08:46AM (#23616685)
      Wikipedia does have an entry about Linos [wikipedia.org]. Unfortunately the whole article is:

      Linos is a proprietary embedded version of Linux used by Aware Electronics in their A-BOOK products[1]. It is also expected to be used in the Elonex ONE.
      (Emphasis added)

      This doesn't really answer your question and I will add another question to the discussion. Just how come a version of Linux is proprietary? Doesn't proprietary mean that you don't automatically get a license to use and/or distribute the software? This can not be the case with a Linux derivative since GPL v2 (the license of the kernel) allows everyone to use, modify and distribute it.
      • While the source code for the kernel is GPL, the kernel doesn't do a whole lot on it's own. They could use the Linux kernel and basic xwindows, kde, or xfce, and load it to the brim with other proprietary software.

      • Re:Linos... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Vectronic ( 1221470 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @08:54AM (#23616725)
        Aslong as the proprietary only applies to distribution, im (somewhat) "ok" with it.

        But if we start hearing about lawsuits and crap because some kid modded his Linos so he could do [whatever], this is not going to help "Linux". Because the articles "Bob Smith sentenced to a $1,000 fine for modding his Linos" just makes people scared of touching their OS.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by WK2 ( 1072560 )
        I've always considered proprietary to mean "specific to a project or company". For example, if you make a game with maps, and you make your own map format instead of using something like tiled or mappy, then that is a proprietary map format. If you design your own scripting language, rather than using python or lua, then that is proprietary. Wesnoth, for example, uses a proprietary format for its maps. Despite being proprietary, it is completely free and open. It's just that no other projects use it.

        It's al
    • not quite sure why it was referred to as Linos, but I think that was an error.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Nimey ( 114278 )
        [citation needed]

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by dominux ( 731134 )
          the pre-production model that I borrowed for a week, and was shown at the Education show in Birmingham UK had Xandros on it. Sorry, this is original research, I can't cite anything.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dominux ( 731134 )
            on reflection I can cite myself here [olpcnews.com] where I said inaccurately that it was based on an AMD processor (it is a VIA I think) and I said it was based on Debian, which is half true, it is Xandros which is in turn based on Debian.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Nimey ( 114278 )
              Not a very good cite, since you're 1) quoting yourself, and 2) you got some of the facts wrong.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by dominux ( 731134 )
                It is perhaps the worse cite in the whole history of dubiously sourced facts. I have in fact now confused myself, I could have sworn it was a VIA until I re-read my own article stating it was AMD, now I am not so sure. Next time I get my hands on one I will cat /proc/cpuinfo and let you know what it thinks it has.

  • How we have moved on (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) <addw@phcomp.co.uk> on Sunday June 01, 2008 @08:26AM (#23616585) Homepage
    Not very long ago we would have fallen off our chairs in disbelief at the choice in Linux powered laptops coming on to the market. We are now starting to greet them with ''Oh, another one.''.

    Unfortunately: this hasn't happened yet (in a big way) in the corporate desktop market. That will happen next year -- as I have been predicting for the last 8 years.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by BrokenHalo ( 565198 )
      Unfortunately: this hasn't happened yet (in a big way) in the corporate desktop market. That will happen next year -- as I have been predicting for the last 8 years.

      OK. But that's only because the corporate market hasn't cottoned on to the fact that the rest of the world realised long ago that Windows is still not ready for the desktop, while Linux supports much more hardware "out of the box" and never bluescreens. Though I have to admit that those guys at Apple seem to do a reasonably good job of it, sin

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        But that's only because the corporate market hasn't cottoned on to the fact that the rest of the world realised long ago that Windows is still not ready for the desktop, while Linux supports much more hardware "out of the box" and never bluescreens.
        Windows is still more ready for the 2008 gaming PC than Linux. As I understand it, Windows supports more 3D video cards in 2008 home PCs, more sound cards in 2008 home PCs, and more Wi-Fi cards in 2008 home PCs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by 2short ( 466733 )
        I assume most of the corporate world is much like where I work:

        They buy from big mainstream hardware vendors (Dell) so supporting "much more hardware" is completely irrelevant. XP never bluescreens for us because bluescreens on XP are due to hardware problems, which again, we don't have because we buy new boring Dells.

        And then there are a handful of must-have apps that are Windows only.

        I use and enjoy Linux, but I can certainly see why my employers desktop IT guy doesn't push

    • Not very long ago we would have fallen off our chairs in disbelief at the choice in Linux powered laptops coming on to the market.

      That would actually be Steve Ballmer pulling them out from under us, before battering our poor helpless bodies.

  • Elonex ONE (Score:5, Informative)

    by lobiusmoop ( 305328 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @08:28AM (#23616593) Homepage
    Apparently the Elonex ONE is just a rebranded version of this system [blogspot.com], i.e. a digital photoframe with a keyboard/mouse and wifi grafted on (which is how they manage to keep the cost down).
  • Catastrophe theory etc.
     
  • Two caveats: one, I have an Eee so I'm biased that way, and two, I have only looked at the Elonex site for about thirty seconds. But that thing is ugly! It looks like it would flop over on its top-heavy back all the time. Why is everything in the screen instead of under the keyboard? Is it to keep the heat off of little boys and girls baby producing parts?

    That thing just looks weird.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Constantine XVI ( 880691 )
      How many laptops have you seen rendered useless because the connection between the screen and the rest of the machine snapped? I can guarantee you this one won't be.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dominux ( 731134 )
        it does have a hinge but that is on the keyboard unit, which is basically disposable. Probably costs about 5-10 quid for a replacement keyboard.

    • Two caveats: one, I have an Eee so I'm biased that way, and two, I have only looked at the Elonex site for about thirty seconds. But that thing is ugly!
      Well, yeah, but it's just over half the price of the cheapest Eee PC (in the UK anyway), so it's hardly a fair comparison.

      Yeah, I agree that it's not pretty, but for a hundred quid, you really *shouldn't* be expecting MacBook-shaming industrial design prettiness. It's aimed at kids, for ****'s sake!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hitmark ( 640295 )
        and built to survive.

        the keyboard is a membrane system thats virtually spill proof. rather then a touch screen it has a oversized nub and two mouse button on the back of the screen, similar to whats found on the keyboard itself.

        and while its not shown on any of the elonex images, there is a built in stand at the back to support the extra weight.

        yes, this means that the keyboard most likely cant be used while on the go. or even in a lap...
  • I thought Elonex (i.e. the north London PC makers we once bought from) went bust and were then bought from administration by someone else. Nothing wrong with that, except that New Elonex was reported in the press to be refusing to honour Old Elonex's warranties on the grounds that they were a different legal entity. Nothing illegal in that, but New Elonex's web site gives the impression of business continuity.
    Could we perhaps ask New Elonex to clarify this point? Are they as honourable a b

    • Re:Didn't Elonex Go Bust? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Dogtanian ( 588974 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @09:59AM (#23617101) Homepage
      Well, since they bought the name, they probably want to benefit from the recognition of the old company, so they're not going to play up the fact that they're a legally different entity.

      Brands are in truth increasingly meaningless these days. Take Polaroid for example. The original company went bankrupt a few years back, and the current "Polaroid" is a legally separate company that took over their business and the name. With the exception of film cameras (which they continued for a while, but I believe they've stopped doing now), almost all "Polaroid" products are made by third-party companies who've licensed the name and slapped it on some cheapass LCD TVs (or whatever) in an attempt to trade off the reputation of and goodwill towards the original Polaroid.

      In other words, "Polaroid" is totally meaningless as a brand (in the traditional sense) nowadays.

      What I don't understand is companies taking over names like "Time Computers". For those who don't know, Time are a UK company that's gone bankrupt and had its name bought at least twice, despite having a really manky reputation in all its incarnations. I guess that "brand recognition" has some value, no matter how bad the associations with that brand are.

  • Article has errors in it (Score:4, Informative)

    by rcb1974 ( 654474 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @09:14AM (#23616849) Homepage
    From TFA:

    "Just like the Eee, the Elonex achieves cost savings by bundling freely redistributable open source software including, of course, the Linux operating system (specifically, Linos 2.6.21)"


    Linux is just the kernel, GNU is the operating system.

    From TFA:

    "Unlike the Eee, however, the native resolution is a more regular (though narrower) 640x480 instead of the bizarre 640x400 ASUS offer."


    This is false. I own the Asus Eee PC 701. It has a resolution of 800x480, not "640x400".

    From TFA:

    "Now, returning to hardware, although I commented on how much the ONE seems reminiscent of the Eee there are some differences. I already mentioned the resolution which while taller is narrower."


    Again, this is false.
    • both the eeePC and Elonex One have 800x480 and you are right about the operating system, I think the Linos thing was an early missprint and it has been repeated and repeated. It is a kernel version number (which means very little to the target audience of the marketing material) the operating system is a custom Xandros, just like the eeePC (although Xandros on eeePC was customised for Asus and Xandros on One was customised for Elonex so don't expect them to be identical).

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nguy ( 1207026 )
      Linux is just the kernel, GNU is the operating system.

      GNU is just a bunch of command line utilities. According to the literal meaning, there is no more justification for calling it the "GNU operating system" than the "Linux operating system".

      But, as any non-autistic person understands, language isn't limited to literal meanings anyway. Calling it the "Linux operating system" is an example of metonymy and is quite reasonable.

      And, as such things go, it will probably still be called Linux long after the Lin

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hitmark ( 640295 )
        i dont think there really exist a set in stone definition of a operating system.

        at best the first incarnation was just a couple of extra punch cards that was made generic enough to get the hardware up and ready for whatever cards followed them.

        all in all, the kernel and the user space apps work in symbiosis. without one, the other is useless...
    • well, nothing that couldn't have been written on March 1st at any rate. In fact I did write an article about the Elonex One, and the OLPC XO and the EeePC on March 1st, [olpcnews.com] I don't know if it is a better article, I am of course not a professional journalist, but I did at least make an effort to check the facts and actually did have a unit to look at. The ITWire article is just poorly regurgitating some publicly available specifications.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by iabervon ( 1971 )
      If they're actually using an embedded distribution, it's not too unlikely that it doesn't have the usual GNU software on it at all. They could go with newlib, busybox, and dash, and not include a native build environment, and it would be hard to argue that it's a GNU system at all. GNU stuff in that layer is really nice for interactive use, but if your scripts are all POSIX and you don't expect people to work on the system from inside, you can cut out a huge amount of space that goes to making things that w

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Haeleth ( 414428 )

      Linux is just the kernel, GNU is the operating system.

      Nope; the GNU operating system's kernel is the HURD. RMS and his disciples refer to the hybrid platform consisting of the Linux kernel and the GNU userland as "GNU/Linux".

      But that's irrelevant: in the real world, language is defined by the way people actually use it, not by the way religious leaders decree it should be used -- and in real-world usage, Linux is the operating system and GNU is an esoteric collection of scary command-line utilities.

  • However, it won't be Elonex. Asus is my personal bet for the one company to take Linux to the true desktop. They have the advantage of being both hardware mfr. and Linux developers, they have great stuff from Apple using them as their vendor.

    Linux has needed a single, unified, vision from the beginning to get past all o fthe choice/freedom crap and get on to a unified UI, a solid look and feel, and most importantly ONE of everything that is best in class and 100% working by default. Since the OSS community

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by BrokenHalo ( 565198 )
      Linux has needed a single, unified, vision from the beginning to get past all o fthe choice/freedom crap and get on to a unified UI, a solid look and feel, and most importantly ONE of everything that is best in class and 100% working by default. Since the OSS community will never agree to do this, a company is my only hope (as sad as that is). I'm wishing ASUS nothing but luck.

      Fair enough, in a way I sort of agree, in the sense that Linux might be seen as a competitor to Windows as a marketable item. Howe
      • But at some point customization and freedom have to take a back seat to "good enough." It's fine to then take that solid foundation and open it up for people to tweak, change, build upon, streamline, extend, etc... but let's have that one solid base.

        I used to have all the time in the world to tinker and tweak, and then the realization that I end up spending most of my time computing tweaking and tuning and NOT actually doing anything. I've been with Linux for over 12 years now, I wish it success but I think

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by budword ( 680846 )
      Linux is not for everyone. If you want EXACTLY one of everything and a lack of choices because you don't want to be confused, perhaps you should stay with windows. There is a market for a fisherprice OS, and it is you. The strength of Linux is Freedom and Choice. Stick with windows, you'll be happier, you want mind the lack of Freedom, or being force fed some corporations idea of what you need on your computer.
      • Wow, how terribly insightful. YOU are exactly what is wrong with Linux. *I* don't need a fancy OS. I live and work daily in some of the most cryptic operating systems made. I work in low level, I have contributed more to open source than you could hope to. It is people like you and your mentality that deserve to fail and to flounder on another 12 years treading water rather than pushing ahead.

        *I* don't need one of everything, Linux does... and even then just out of the box. No one said there can't be choice

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by budword ( 680846 )
          Wow. Set down the flame thrower and step away buddy. Linux doesn't "need" wide adoption. It doesn't "need" a lack of choice. It doesn't need the easily confused. And a "decided" upon default system ? There is no central authority to "decide" this for Linux. That is it's strength. Even Linus guides the kernel development simply because people who use Linux trust him. You are welcome to fork everything about Linux, and develop your own "decided" upon version, even get people to use their time to code for you.

      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by DeadChobi ( 740395 )
        How is this insightful? The guy is basically belittling people for making the choice to stick with Windows. He uses diction which is carefully designed to belittle, like "Fischer Price OS." Not only that, he's basically espousing the antithesis of freedom of choice. Someone who truly believed in freedom and choice would say "that's cool, whatever works for you," and not what essentially amounts to "have fun with your child's toy OS, you neolithic sack baby."

        This is the attitude that was turning people off t
        • The poster's use of "Fisher Price OS" may be over the top, but much of the post makes sense. One of everything? So we have to choose between emacs and vi, KDE and GNOME, bash and csh, perl and python, and many others. What may be best for one user might not be best for another. Also, having "redundant" apps may help security/efficiency.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by 2short ( 466733 )
        "There is a market for a fisherprice OS, and it is you."

        Perhaps there a market for a "fisherprice OS", since that is an excellent description of what you get pre-installed on the EEE. Do note that:
        A) In that context, it's great.
        B) It is Linux based.

        On bigger hardware, where I don't need something as stripped down and simplified as possible, I use Windows. I in fact don't mind the lack of freedom, because hacking OS's isn't my thing. Being force fed some corporations of what I need isn't s

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Jorophose ( 1062218 )
      both hardware mfr. and Linux developers
      Yes, but their hardware quality, especially in comparaison to Gigabyte (by itself it's fine), has been in a rather harsh decline since the launch of S775/AM2.

      Oh, they don't develop anything Linux/GPL IIRC. The linux distro on the eeePC is outsourced to Xandros, a shoddy company that puts my city's already crappy tech sector to shame. They were also one of the companies that signed a deal with MS, another reason to avoid them (Novell's turned out to be not too bad, the

    • Linux has needed a single, unified, vision

      Good idea! When will you have it ready for us? :-)

      I'm joking. Linux has developed into an ecosystem, not just a single product, so why reduce it to that?

      The people using Linux on their mobile phones, and those using it on their research supercomputers [top500.org] might disagree with your idea of optimizing it for the desktop only.

      There's room for everyone.

      • Sure there is room, I never threatened that... what I am saying is to get a solid foundation from which to build instead of the nebulous base that currently exists.

        For the life of me I will never understand the complete knee-jerk reaction against this. Build a house sometime on a moving, fluid foundation of concrete... I'll build mine on a nice solid one.

        This isn't a threat to any one distro or platform. All it is is a base choice of WM, text editor, look/feel, UI, libraries, etc. all picked to be the most

  • Commoditization of Complements (Score:5, Insightful)

    by $random_var ( 919061 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @09:17AM (#23616881)
    As Joel wrote [joelonsoftware.com], a good business strategy is to drive the price of the complements of your product down to commodity levels. Decreasing the cost of operating systems will make laptops more profitable, so a lot of the companies entering the subnotebook field will be stimulating linux (and other open source) development. We've already seen this from VIA; I can't wait to see if some big US brands start openly supporting linux development.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hitmark ( 640295 )
      heh, what asus did with the eeepc was to basically pull the rug under the established laptop brands out there that had their products hover around more or less the same price, but with a feature set update ever so often.

      that is the other way of getting people to buy. new bling at same cost. it also represents a bigger income pool pr unit sold then going for commodity...

  • In a tossup between the EeePC and the One (Score:3, Informative)

    by SurlyToad ( 932526 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @09:34AM (#23616971)
    The Eee wins.

    I considered the Elonex One for all of 5 minutes before rejecting it. Ok, I paid twice as much for my Eee, but it doesn't look like an ugly botched abortion with an even more obscure "version" of Linux than Xandros. And the overall spec of the Eee is light years above the One.

    I've installed Xampp on the Eee with no problems and it makes a curiously engaging development and demonstration platform. I'd hate to try THAT with the One!

    • Removable keyboard is nice (Score:4, Interesting)

      by emj ( 15659 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @10:26AM (#23617377) Journal
      Elonex has a removable keyboard [slashdot.org], even though the lack of touch screen makes it less usefull. I really want to have one of these with out keyboard, because of the small form factor the keyboard becomes alot more conspicuous.

      I've been using small Laptops since 2000 and the keyboard has always been an issue. Sure 90% of the time it doesn't matter, but sometimes it really is helpful to remove the keyboard.
    • The Elonex is aimed mainly at kids and the educational market. It's not really designed for Linux geeks.

      Given the success of the Eee, I confidently expect many more small Linux-based sub-notebooks to be launched in the next few months and years.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by lysse ( 516445 )
      If you only have £100 spare, then the ONE wins by default; whilst you could get a "proper", much higher spec'd, second-hand laptop for that money, you'd almost certainly end up lashing out £50 or so on a new battery straight away.

  • The eightfold subnotebook (Score:3, Funny)

    by m0llusk ( 789903 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @01:35PM (#23618935) Journal
    Wisdom
    Right display and memory
    Right system and applications

    Ethical conduct
    Right patching
    Right networking
    Right configuration

    Concentration
    Right keys and touchpad
    Right backups
    Right clamshell hibernate
  • Yes, lets hide all those 'nasty details', like GNU and Linux being Free Software.

    You wouldn't want users knowing they are actually allowed to modify or copy all of the software with no cost or legal problems. Lets hide all those details for those silly overweight four-eye geek types to worry about.

    Absolutely disgraceful.

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A committee takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom. -- Parkinson

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